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Thursday, 23 May 2013

Stephanie is someone I happened across on Twitter in my search for new bloggers. How can you now warm to this picture of her?She runs the fabulous Storybramble which she describes as 'the story cafe'. It provides free audio stories and poems for children which also have follow-on creative activities.Stephanie is a trained actor, qualified drama teacher and mother of two. She's passionate about using stories to help children develop their creativity, have fun and build strong imaginations and created Storybramble as a resource for other parents who feel the same way. Here Stephanie shares a life changing story with us which gives some great advice for others...

Five
Lessons I learned from facing Chronic IllnessThis time last year I was insanely busy
working at my job as a secondary school teacher, taking care of my two children
under five, running my own youth theatre and studying for a post grad in
physical theatre which conveniently took place at the other end of the
country! I like to be busy and yes
I was tired but I was confident that I could push through it. The summer holidays arrived
and instead of taking a break I went to work with a theatre company. I had the time of my life but when the
school year rolled round again I was exhausted. As the new term started I took on the usual round of extra
curricular commitments and just kept on going. Then I got sick. It was just a throat infection and as it
was almost the October Break I was sure after a week off I would be well
again. But I wasn’t. I stayed off for another week, then
another and another. The Dr’s
began to do tests but found nothing and eventually I was diagnosed with Post
Viral Fatigue which after several months was changed to Chronic Fatigue. I had gone from a full, busy and active
life to one where getting to the end of the day was a physical chore. I spent
hours stuck in my bed. I often
found it difficult just to take care of my children. My whole world had been turned upside down and things felt
very, very bleak.I would like to say that one day I woke up
to a beautiful revelation about life with rainbows, glitter and singing
unicorns. Sadly the singing
unicorns gave me a miss. What I
did get however was a painful wake up call about how I was living my life and I
wanted to share a few realisations I’ve had these last few months.1. MOST THINGS DON’T MATTERI am a professional worrier. I am so highly skilled at fretting that
if you could get a qualification for stressing about things I would have a
distinction. Before I was sick
everything felt very important.
Until suddenly I realised most of it just wasn’t. The world would keep turning if work
didn’t go the way I wanted it to, if I didn’t get something handed in on time,
if my housework was never done.
99% of the things I was worrying about really did not matter one little
bit. LOOK AT THE BIGGER PICTUREWhen life throws a ton of stress your way
as it so often tends to do try to step back and see the bigger picture. If you and those you love are healthy
and well then it probably isn’t as big a deal as you think. Work, having a show home, being the
perfect mum - it’s not that important in the scheme of things. Your energy is
precious so save it for the stuff that really counts.2.
PEOPLE
ARE FOOD FOR THE SOULWhen I got sick one of the most
upsetting consequences of it was
the sheer number of people who
simply walked away. People
who I had once considered good friends dropped me like a hot coal. On the other side of the friendship
coin however were the people who went above and beyond the call of duty to help
and support me. I saw people in a
whole new light and suddenly had a much better idea of where I ranked in their
lives and while the answer wasn’t always pretty I now have much stronger friendships as a result.GO
ON A PEOPLE DIETThe people
in your life are like food. They are either good for you or they aren’t. Good food adds to the quality of
your life, makes you feel healthy and well and gives you energy. Bad food does the opposite, leaves you
feeling lethargic, sick and low.
Take a look at your relationships and where you can limit the time you
spend on sugary friendships of little or no substance. Your soul deserves better than
this. In the same way that being
run down can highlight our bad diet choice, going through a rough time in your
life can shine a light on the good, bad and ugly in your current
friendships. Instead invest time
in the friendships that enrich your life, you deserve no less than this.3.
TIME IS YOUR GREATEST RESOURCEI like to
be busy but being ill forced me practically to a standstill. As my energy was limited and I had to
choose very carefully how I would spend it. Having to pick what activities I could do and which ones I
would have to drop made me seriously re-evaluate my priorities. Before I was rushing to work early and
staying late then running off to classes and rehearsals in the evening. My children, I am ashamed to admit,
were fitted into the gaps. Now
that I wasn’t sure if I was going to have the energy to even read them a bed
time story feeling well enough to play with them suddenly became a very
precious thing. I was in such a
rush to live life that I was missing it. SAVOUR
THE LITTLE MOMENTSToday is
all you have, the moment, right now is all there is. Savour it.
Enjoy the daft wee moments with your children, the time with your family
and friends. It is the stuff that
life was made for.4.
LIMITATIONS ARE NOT ALWAYS BADI have
always been passionate about the arts but after I had children I often felt
frustrated when I couldn’t get out
to the theatre or to workshops as much as I wanted to. Once I was ill however all this was out
of the question, I wasn’t well
enough to go anywhere. For several
weeks I sat at home miserably watching one opportunity after another sail by. I was frustrated and angry. Then I thought, what am I waiting for
exactly? Why don’t I just get on
with it? Weirdly being limited
made me more focussed. I thought
about the things I loved: being creative, children’s stories, writing, creating
characters. Bit by bit the idea
for Storybramble began to form in my mind. I thought about what mattered to me and how I could bring it
into my life despite my circumstances. And so I started to write, and then I started to share
what I was writing in the hope that the stories I had written might just bring
a bit of fun and creativity to other children. MAKE
WHAT YOU MAKEWhatever it
is you make go ahead and make it.
Whether you are a writer, painter, crafter, cook, chef, musician,
dancer, engineer, carpenter, architect, scientist or gardener go and get
making! Don’t wait for the right time, there is only now. The circumstances will never be perfect
so just start and have fun with it.5.
YOUR HEALTH SHOULD BE YOUR NUMBER 1 PRIORITYHow often
have you put your needs second? It
seems to go hand in hand with being a mother. We make sacrifices, we push through, we keep going and we
cut corners when it comes to our own health. It’s a false economy.I will
admit I was arrogant. I thought I could abuse my body, keep pushing it and that
I would get away with it. I was
wrong. And when I realised how
wrong I was I was afraid. What if
I never got better? What if I had
ruined my health for good? What
kind of life would I have? How
would I take care of my children then? A
RADIATOR HAS TO BE WARM TO HEAT OTHERSIt’s not
selfish to take care of you. You
can’t look after anyone or anything else if you don’t. So put your health at the top of your
agenda. Eat, drink and sleep
well. Take time out for you,
relax, walk and rest. It is an
investment that will pay dividends for you and all those you love.Dealing with a long term illness has been
a huge shock but as they say every cloud has a silver lining. Being sick forced me to stop and when I
did I was able to see what really
mattered in my life. I wanted to
write this as I wish it hadn’t taken illness to open my eyes. I hope that other people can stop, be
still and value themselves and their lives today.What about you? Have you had a life changing moment? I would love to hear about what lessons
you learned from it if you did. You can find Stephanie here:http://www.storybramble.comhttps://twitter.com/Storybramble

5 comments:

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